To the Massanutten Community:
We’ve mentioned numerous times – here on this page, and in correspondence with MPOA’s Board and legal counsel – that the Resort and Great Eastern are very much committed to paying our fair share of mutually beneficial services such as road maintenance.
If you’ve not read Garrett Smith’s items on the covenants and agreements between MPOA and the Developer, and the legal reasons why we believe we’re on solid ground for the withdrawal of Summit, Eagle Trace and Shenandoah Villas from MPOA, I encourage you to do so. They’re located in the “Our Take on Community Issues” section.
So now, let’s specifically talk about funding shared roads, because we fully agree that we have a responsibility to do so. In fact, we’ve been holding money in escrow for that very purpose since January (we even offered to pay MORE for road maintenance than we have been paying if MPOA is responsive to our needs).
One thing we think is essential going forward is to develop openness and transparency between MPOA and Massanutten Resort regarding shared road expenses. Massanutten Resort and Great Eastern have been paying MPOA money every year for decades, but we’ve long been concerned that we don’t know how that money is being spent. MPOA hasn’t been able to tell us, apparently because its expense tracking isn’t capable of doing so.
For us, it’s a black hole. When needed road repairs are not made, and no reserve fund is established, all we know is that the money we provide for these services was spent for something that didn’t benefit visitors and guests; that commitments made by MPOA to road maintenance were not met; and that when major repairs are needed, the money to pay for them won’t be there.
By contrast, we track our expenditures carefully. We track payroll, maintenance and other costs specific to any job we do. We can see where things are likely to cost more than projections, and adjust accordingly; we can see where things were over-budgeted. And there’s more. For example, even though MPOA has the responsibility for snow removal on shared roads, our crews regularly drop their plows when traveling shared those roads during snow events, and our maintenance shop regularly helps fix MPOA equipment if MPOA’s shop is closed for the night. So that you know, we don’t charge MPOA for those things, but we could easily calculate how much they cost us.
We can’t help but view our shared financial responsibility for maintaining these roads, in light of our related financial responsibilities to two groups: 1) our shareholders – who by the way, are our employees and 2) the owners of the timeshare associations we manage. For our employee-owners, we must ensure that the funds Great Eastern provides for shared expenses are properly budgeted and tracked. For timeshare association owners, we must spend their Association’s money on expenses that directly relate to the Association’s property. Accounting for what we do is how we operate our own business, and we view it as reasonable to expect that of our business partners.
We acknowledge that we have full-time staff capable of doing this work, and that MPOA is more limited. We’d be happy to discuss helping MPOA set up improved systems that may do even more than provide clarity on road issues – it may help better track other MPOA expenses with which we’re not involved.
Here’s an additional thought. We’re open to the idea of purchasing or leasing the main roads we use (Massanutten, Peak & Del Webb Drives), and becoming 100% responsible for all maintenance and capital improvements. In doing so, we would also commit to the same transparency we request above. Our goals in all of this are open communication and providing fair choices for what best suits MPOA’s membership, its Board, Massanutten Resort and the community.
Well maintained, carefully managed roads are a subject we agree on, big picture. The mediation and arbitration processes might be useful in working out the details. Until then, always feel free to reach out with any questions: community@massresort.com.
Cordially,
Matthias Smith, VP/General Manager, Massanutten Resort
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